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A comment on Low serotonin levels might explain some Long Covid symptoms, study proposes. Parent comment

Re:Low serotonin levels might explain some Long Covid sympto... by jinder on Wednesday October 18, 2023 @10:00AM (#37928792)
While the serotonin used in your gut doesn’t directly impact the brain, it does impact the enteric nervous system which communicates via the vagus nerve to your brain. So I don’t think it’s correct to say this doesn’t (or couldn’t) impact your mood (and indeed murine experiments demonstrate it does).
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Re:Low serotonin levels might explain some Long Covid sympto... by avisser on Wednesday October 18, 2023 @10:51AM (#37929537)
Perhaps my favorite science experiment, next to dual-slit, https://radiolab.org/podcast/197242-gut-feelings

They cut the vagus nerves of rats and see behavior change.

Which makes sense to me - when "brains" first evolved, the connection to the stomach would've been the prime connection.

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Re:Low serotonin levels might explain some Long Covid sympto... by jinder on Wednesday October 18, 2023 @11:03AM (#37929715)
Not just that. In mice, SSRIs stop having any anti-depressant effects if the vagus nerve is severed: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50807-8

So they also seem to be effective via the enteric nervous system!

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